Legend of Korra: Fearsome Guardian
by Scholarly-Cimmerian
Summary: The Convergence woke him from slumber. The spirit portals drew him to Republic City. The Avatar cannot stop him. And the Earth Empire shall feel his wrath. (Godzilla AU.)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: All licensed characters belong to their rightful owners. I own nothing except my imagination.**

* * *

 _Deep in the depths of the ocean…_

 _Far, far below the ice of the South Pole…_

 _The great beast slept. He had slumbered there for a very long time._

 _He was a very old creature. The great beast had been old when the Avatar was just a man named Wan._

 _The great beast had been ancient when the Lion-Turtles were just hatchlings._

 _The creature had once roamed the earth, in days when the land was young and hot. In that long-gone, long-forgotten era, there had been other giant creatures in the world… beings of such size and power that most men could not dream of._

 _Fights between the giants were often, and would have been the stuff of legend had there been people to record them._

 _But that time was long gone. The earth had grown cooler and the other giants were all gone now. He, the great beast, was perhaps the only one left. Only the spirits knew of him – and they had no wish to share or recall that knowledge, seeing the giant beast as something better left forgotten._

 _And so, the lone giant slumbered beneath the seas…_

 _Waiting, perhaps, for a time to awaken, and to fight once more…_

* * *

 **(174 Years Ago)**

Thunder boomed and lightning crashed and the wind howled as the storm gave voice to its rage.

Avatar Aang yelled out in alarm as he and his sky-bison were knocked out of the sky and into the southern ocean. They sank into the depths – before the young nomad's tattoos glowed white and the power of the Avatar State made itself known.

Within moments, a new iceberg had formed, with the last airbender and his bison friend sealed inside.

Through it all, the great beast slept on.

When Aang finally emerged from the ice a century later, the slumbering giant only twitched a little and continued its deep, dreamless rest.

* * *

 **(74 Years Ago)**

At the North Pole, the Moon Spirit was slain by a power-mad Fire Nation admiral.

The Ocean Spirit merged with the Avatar to destroy an invading fleet.

A princess gave her life to restore the moon.

The great beast stirred in its sleep, but it did not awaken.

And so it went. Throughout the rest of the Hundred Year War, the great beast slumbered. He did not stir when Azula took Ba Sing Se, or when Aang defeated Ozai. He did not stir when Zuko was crowned Fire Lord and the war was declared over.

The giant beast slumbered through the following decades, through the attempts at harmony and unity. The Harmony Restoration Project gave way to the construction of Republic City and the creation of the United Republic – and through it all the great beast did not wake.

* * *

 **(4 Years Ago)**

The whole world was rocked as the Harmonic Convergence came.

A mad spirit priest sought to plunge the world into darkness, and released the wicked spirit of chaos known as Vaatu.

Avatar Korra battled the Dark Avatar Unalaq for the fate of the world.

Monstrous vines choked and nearly destroyed Republic City. Spirits escaped into the physical world.

Unalaq was destroyed and Vaatu was defeated, never to rise again.

The world was changed forever -

 _-And the great beast opened its eyes and awoke._

* * *

 **(Now)**

Smoke billowed into the air.

Republic City was in a state of panic.

The entire fleet of the United Republic lay in ruins, sinking into the waters of Yue Bay.

A titanic menace threatened to lay waste to the entire city-

-The newly revealed superweapon of Kuvira's Earth Empire, a colossal mecha standing over twenty-five stories tall, stood on the plains before the city; the spirit-cannon mounted on its arm still glowed slightly from firing.

Inside the cockpit of the Colossus, the self-proclaimed Earth Emperor kept her face expressionless as she stared out at the smoking ruin that had once been a warehouse. To be specific, a warehouse where her advisor (and fiancé) had been held hostage.

 _Baatar. I'm sorry_ , she thought. _But it had to be done._

Kuvira shut her eyes for just a moment. Then she opened them again, and her face was stern and composed; the invulnerable Great Leader of the Earth Empire.

 _For the sake of the Empire, I had to do it._

It was a necessary sacrifice. His life, versus the opportunity to kill the Avatar and all her allies in one shot? Tactically, it made perfect sense. Now the path to reclaiming what was rightfully hers was open.

Her empire would be complete today. This would be her greatest triumph – she would make sure of it.

Kuvira focused on that thought, and she moved forward with the attack. The Colossus began to march, slow but deliberate – an unstoppable juggernaut – towards the defenseless Republic City.

* * *

 _Deep in the ocean…_

 _In a place where the petty wars and empires of humans have never reached…_

 _The great beast was coming._

 _He had started out slowly – stirring from his resting place beneath the Arctic ice. Gradually breaking free from the deepest deeps of the bottom of the ocean, from the tons upon tons of rock and ice on his shoulders._

 _Over two years, he had risen from the deeps, slowly but surely._

 _He had fed himself during that time: on whales and on giant squid, on sea-serpents and on vast swarms of jellyfish and huge clouds of minnows and many of the other things that swam about in the ocean._

 _The ancient beast fed himself, becoming more awake and more alive with every day's passing; the great furnace in his belly stoking itself up and becoming hot again._

 _By and by, day after day and month after month, the giant one rose through the depths of the ocean, closer and closer to the surface – to the site of the event, the Convergence that had woken him…_

 _The great beast was so very close, swimming beneath the surface of the waves._

 _He was almost right at his destination…_

* * *

 **A/N: So, welcome to this idea of mine. I first had it back during the time when Book Four was coming out, and we all saw what Kuvira's ultimate weapon was. I *immediately* drew mental comparisons to Pacific Rim and Godzilla, and the idea grew from there. XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: All licensed characters belong to their rightful owners. I own nothing but my imagination.**

 ***Some dialogue in this chapter comes straight from the episode, "Day of the Colossus."**

* * *

Back at the ruins of the warehouse…

Smoke and ash drifted through the air. Rubble was all that remained of the building. There was no sign of the Avatar or anyone else in the destruction-

-A great slab of concrete suddenly began to shake. Then, part of it began to lift up.

Bolin groaned, straining to keep the rubble up and off of everyone with his earthbending. "Go ahead, take your time, just bending a giant wall!" People rushed to get past the rubble and out into the open. "Man, have we got a lot of people hurt!"

Bumi and Suyin followed after the others, supporting an unconscious Baatar Junior between them.

" _Is that everybody!?"_ Bolin shouted, the strain about to overwhelm him. "GAH!" He dropped the slab of concrete and managed to just dodge being flattened.

Elsewhere, Tenzin had just airbent himself to the top of a nearby building, to get a look at what the situation was now. The master airbender's face paled as he saw the titanic form of Kuvira's Colossus, wading across the harbor of Republic City – with a whole brigade of mecha-tanks marching across a nearby bridge.

Rapidly, he flew down to rejoin the others. "Kuvira is heading our way, with a platoon of mecha suits!"

"What should we do?" Asami asked.

Bolin spoke up. "This is my hometown, and I hate to say it, but there's no use risking all our lives to fight that giant thing! Let her take the city for now! We'll think of some other way to come back and beat her!"

Mako disagreed with him. "What about all the people who haven't been evacuated yet?" he demanded, "If Kuvira finds out that Wu is with them, she might fire that spirit cannon at them and take them all out."

Nobody wanted to say it, but everyone's thoughts were on the fact that Kuvira had just tried to sacrifice her own fiancé for a shot at killing all of them. It seemed all too likely that other civilians would be 'acceptable losses' for the Earth Empire's leader if it meant a chance at killing Prince Wu.

Korra suddenly spoke, and all eyes turned to the Avatar. "I couldn't stop Kuvira from taking Zaofu," she began, her voice filling with resolve, "I'm not letting her conquer Republic City. The world isn't safe as long as she has that weapon."

"I agree."

The group turned to see who had spoken.

Lin Beifong looked down at them from the top of another pile of rubble. "We take that giant down _today_ ," the police chief stated decisively.

"Lin!" Korra declared.

The metalbender chief managed a smile. "Glad to see you all made it out. You had me worried."

Varrick decided it was time to bring up what he felt was a very important thing. "Well, you benders are going to have to fight her alone – she just blew up our factory with all our hummingbird suits," he referred to the two-man flying machines that they had been working on, a new design to use against the Earth Empire's weapons.

"Not all of them," Asami said. "There are the prototypes back at my office. If we can get those ready to fly, we'll at least be able to offer a little air support."

Korra looked over to Suyin. "Su, you take Baatar Junior and the rest of the wounded back to Asami's office. Get those suits working as fast as you can."

The Avatar grimly finished, "The rest of us will just have to face Kuvira on our own."

* * *

But no matter what they tried, the Colossus was not to be stopped.

The airbenders tried blinding it with paint bombs. It didn't work.

Lin tried to metalbend it, but the Colossus' joints were made of fine platinum.

Bolin melted the ground under its feet into lava to try and stop it that way.

Korra and the airbenders tag-teamed to try and knock the Colossus down.

Kuvira's superweapon blasted at them with its spirit-cannon, destroying their efforts and injuring airbenders. The Avatar and the other defenders had to fall back.

From a high rooftop, Tenzin watched in anguished concern, as the Earth Empire's forces continued to march onward into Republic City. Nothing they were doing was accomplishing anything – they were barely even slowing the Colossus down.

 _How in the world can we stop this?_ The master airbender asked himself in desperation.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shout.

"Tenzin! TENZIN!"

It was Bumi.

Dropping out of the air and snapping his glider shut, Tenzin's older brother gasped for breath, looking deeply distressed. "Bay – bay!" he gasped, "Big, g-giant – _thing!_ You have to see this!"

Tenzin's brow furrowed. "Bumi, what are you—"

Bumi grabbed him by the shoulders, "JUST LOOK!" he yelled, wild-eyed, pointing frantically in the direction of Yue Bay.

Shaken, Tenzin flew up after Bumi, and the two airbenders looked out at the waters of the city harbor.

Bumi pointed. He didn't need to – it was impossible to miss what was going on out there. But he still pointed at it anyway.

The color left Tenzin's face, and his expression dropped.

"Oh…" the airbender muttered weakly. "Oh, dear…"

* * *

 _Finally._

 _He had arrived._

* * *

"Get those people out of here!" Lin Beifong had fallen back from the attack on the Colossus to check on her officers. There were still civilians in the city, needing to be evacuated to the train tunnels and to other points of exit.

Police officers worked to direct the crowds, in an almost hopeless effort to try and keep them calm and moving in an orderly fashion. It was a losing battle, but one that the cops refused to give up, and Lin was proud of them for that.

The metalbender's face was grim as she surveyed the scene before her: too many frightened and panicking people, not enough officers on hand to deal with the situation, the invading army and its mechanical monster of a weapon…

"What the hell?..." the chief suddenly felt something liquid wash against her boots, and looked down to see that there was water spilling down the streets – enough to wash against your feet and even up to your ankles.

 _That's not good. If there's something else going on, then we might have even more panic on our hands._

Lin took a megaphone from a nearby cop, and lifted it to her lips. "Everyone, listen!" the sound manages to create a brief pause in the noise of panic before her, " _Remain calm_ , and keep moving in an _orderly_ fashion. We are doing _everything_ possible—"

Her call to remain calm was promptly broken, as the thunder of an explosion tears through the air, sounding terribly close to the area. Smoke billows into the sky, and the explosion fades in time to for a new, worse sound: the thundering tread of the Colossus.

" _We're all going to die!"_ some idiot screams, and the crowd falls into panic.

Lin barked to her officers, "Make sure no one is hurt!" and the police try to do what they can, but it all looked hopeless: shouts and screams filled the air, citizens running and fighting, a nightmare every which way…

 ***THOOM.***

And then, the screaming just stopped – like a switch being pulled.

Deathly silence falls over everything: the cops, the citizens… even the mighty Colossus halts in its conquest of the city.

Everyone can only _stare_ at the unbelievable presence that has just made itself known.

A gigantic clawed foot, big enough to crush an entire platoon of tanks underneath, had just smashed down on the street. It was soon followed by another massive foot with thick, blunt reptilian claws.

The footstep shakes the whole street as thoroughly as any earthquake.

Speechless, Lin's eyes moved up and up and up – taking in the impossible sight before them.

It was a giant, as tall as the Colossus and heavier, even more strongly built. It stood upright on two colossal legs, with two burly arms ending in almost human-like hands. A heavy, impossibly long tail slowly lashed the air behind it before dropping back to the ground with another earthshaking * **thud** *.

Its thick, scaly hide was the color of charcoal, and looked to be better armor than the most powerful battleship or war machine. Water dripped from its body and onto the street; the source of the bizarre flooding from a moment ago. Three rows of tall, jagged spines ran down the giant's back and along the length of its tail.

At the end of a stout, powerful neck, the giant's face was like a mix of an alligator and a bear – a thick, scaly snout full of teeth and the heavy brow and strong skull of a mighty alpha predator – but there was more to it than just a simple animal: its eyes gleamed like orange fiery orbs, keen and piercing like the eyes of an eagle…

…Or perhaps something even more intelligent.

Like a living mountain, the giant creature stood there in the midst of Republic City, sizing up the metal Colossus before its gaze…

And then – the great beast drew in its breath, and _roared_.

 **SKRRREEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGKKK!**

The sound of it is deafening. You could hear the noise reverberate and carry across the entire city; nobody could have not heard that incredible roar. Lin grimaced, almost afraid that the sound would destroy her hearing.

The giant's roar faded away, as it stared piercingly at Kuvira and her superweapon, seeming to wait for a response.

The tip of the Colossus' spirit-cannon begins to lift up, aiming at the reptilian giant.

And then, Lin Beifong snaps back to action.

" _Clear the streets!"_ she shouts at her men, even as she moves to try and direct the once-again panicking crowds, "Get these people evacuated, NOW! Are you cops or not?! Go, go, GO!"

* * *

 _The roar of the great beast echoes all across the city – and beyond._

 _Outside the physical world, in the place known as the Spirit Wilds, a dragon-eel spirit freezes, gripped by an emotion it hadn't felt in a very, very long time…_

 _Fear._

" _No…" The dragon-eel's eyes widen, its tail lashing in panic as the roar still lingers on the plane of the Spirit Wilds. "It – it can't be!"_

 _But the spirit could not deny what it felt; there was no mistaking that awful, horrible noise. The cry of the monster that was not flesh nor spirit, but somehow was more powerful than both._

 _In a voice of almost reverent horror, the spirit spoke the name of the great beast:_

" _ **Gojira!"**_

 _The name is picked up and repeated by spirits all through the Wilds, echoing over and over until the entire Spirit World knows what has been unleashed._

* * *

 **A/N: And there you have it. The Big G finally makes his entrance directly in this story. Specifically, a Godzilla I based on the 2014 Legendary incarnation, which will be returning to theaters in 2019's "Godzilla: King of the Monsters." I especially drew from the 2014 movie for the scene where Godzilla shows himself in full; I thought that moment, with his foot slamming into view, plus that first roar, was pitch-perfect awesome. XD**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: All licensed characters belong to their rightful owners. I own nothing but my imagination.**

* * *

Avatar Korra's eyes suddenly flashed white. Her spine went rigid and she stiffened up involuntarily, her will overridden by the spirit inside of her. Wind began to howl inside of the Future Industries office, blowing books and papers around like leaves in an autumn storm.

Startled, Asami Sato couldn't help but step back from her friend. Then she caught herself, and fought against the wind to try and get to her. "Korra!?" she called, trying to reach through to the Water-Tribe woman, "Korra, what's happening?"

Korra's eyes glowed blinding white, the wind howling around her.

The noise almost sounded – fearful?

" **Gojira!"** Korra shouted, her voice mingled with another's.

And then, she snapped out of the Avatar State and dropped to the floor, the winds ceasing in an instant.

Immediately, Asami was at her side. "Korra?" the heiress asked tentatively, trying to decide if it was safe to help her stand up. "What – are you…?"

The Avatar groaned, clutching her head, but she was definitely back to herself. "Asami… _ow_ , my head… that was…" She managed to stand up, wobbling a bit before fully steadying her body. "I'm okay, I got this."

"What happened?" Asami questioned.

" _Ugh_ — I'm not quite sure – but something's happened, something that really spooked Raava, I think. I just remember her yelling a name. Something like…"

Before she could say more, the office door burst open to reveal a wild-eyed Varrick. Zhu Li was at his side, looking far more composed than her partner, but still somewhat shaken.

"Up – up on the roof!" Varrick shouted, eyes almost popping with amazement and shock. "We saw it: Big! Scary! Spiky! A MILLION Varricks tall!" For emphasis, he spread his arms out wide and waved them up and down.

"Come on, come on!" the eccentric inventor manically gestured for them to follow him. Korra and Asami exchanged brief glances, and then swiftly rushed to investigate just what had happened.

The Avatar and the heiress reached the rooftop, and up there they stared speechless out on the cityscape before them:

Kuvira's Colossus, huge and sleek and menacing, a giant of gleaming metal and mad science and imperial fervor-

-And across from it, was a giant reptilian _monster_ : huge and gray and spiny, almost like a living mountain.

Asami stared, green eyes almost unblinking as she took in the sight of the two behemoths staring each other down. Korra sucked in her breath, tensing as she suddenly, instinctively knew just what had caused Raava's flare-up. "Gojira…" she murmured quietly.

The Colossus brought its cannon to bear on the monster. The beast let out another earthshaking roar, its tail lashing warningly.

Varrick grinned almost like a little kid at a festival. "Ooh, this would make a GREAT mover picture!" he declared eagerly, making a camera lens out of his hands to frame the showdown with. "The Colossus versus… _The Monster King!_ If only I had a camera…"

"…"

Almost in unison, Korra and Asami _glared_ at him.

"…Oh. Right," Varrick cleared his throat, embarrassed. "Sorry."

* * *

The giant monster's roar was powerful enough to rattle the windshield of Kuvira's colossal mech. Yet, the metalbender dictator noticed, despite the ferocity of the beast's noise, the creature itself had yet to make a violent move. Perhaps the roar was just a warning, some sort of territorial threat display.

Cool and logical, these thoughts ran through Kuvira's mind as she stared icily out at the gray-scaled giant before her. Her soldiers were shocked and close to panicking, but as their leader she was duty-bound to remain calm and project an air of authority at all times.

She could not show fear or weakness.

"What-what are your orders?" an officer called up to the Empire's great leader, "Kuvira, what should we do?"

The Colossus had lifted up its cannon arm to point at the monster, right after its first roar. Kuvira still held the arm in place with her metalbending, in a ready aiming position, but had not begun firing just yet.

For Kuvira, the choice to make was obvious. There was no other option available.

"Fire."

Although his face was masked, you could tell that the officer had blanched at the order. "But—" he stuttered, "That- that monster-"

"-Is a threat to the stability of the Earth Empire," Kuvira answered in a driven tone. "Republic City is worthless to our cause if it becomes the nest of a sea monster."

Her voice rose up, but without becoming a shout. It was so much more than just that; it was a decree, a declaration of total certainty and determination. It was a voice that had inspired an army and forged a conquering empire.

It was the voice of the Great Uniter.

"We. Will. NOT. Retreat."

"Republic City becomes a part of our empire today, and no monster will stop us."

"Now, _**fire**_!" Kuvira ordered sternly, and her soldiers rushed to obey.

Face pale but driven, focused, the dictator braced herself for the battle ahead.

She would fight this monster, and she would kill it. And she would claim the so-called United Republic for her empire.

She could not show fear or weakness. She'd come too far to turn back or show any sign of failure now.

* * *

 _Gojira bared his powerful teeth as he stared at the strange silvery giant before him. He did not know what kind of creature it was, but if it offered him violence he would not hesitate to fight back._

 _His tail lashed again as another warning. Gojira did not want a fight, not so soon after coming onto land. All the great beast wanted was to investigate the surge of energies that had awoken him three years ago-_

 _But he was confused. The landscape around him was so different now. The air was thinner, sharper than it had been in the past. It was colder and dryer, not like the hot and humid land of swamps and seas he had once known._

 _In this place, there were no animals, no plant life. The great reptiles and the huge trees (even if, to be true, they were still so much smaller than him) were no more; their place taken by the little ant-sized creatures that ran about on the ground, hiding in or running out of their strange boxy homes._

 _Everything was different. The world he had known was gone…_

 _And Gojira was not happy about it._

 _The great gray beast flexed his claws and snarled as he saw the silver giant raise its arm and point it at him._

 _Dazzling purple light began to glow at the tip of the giant's arm._

 _Gojira roared again – this time not as a warning. He recognized the coming attack, and prepared himself to fight._

 _The spirit-cannon fired._

 _And Gojira charged._

* * *

It was almost like being caught in an earthquake – except that there were two of them, and they were both upright and fighting each other.

Okay, maybe it wasn't exactly like an earthquake. But Bolin thought it was still a pretty good line.

Bolin covered his eyes as the Colossus fired its spirit-cannon. Even with his lids clenched shut, there was still a dazzling flash of violet light—a shrill, ear-shattering howl of pain from the Colossus' target-

And then, a deafening crash and thunder.

Bolin forced his eyes open to take a look.

The earthbender's jaw dropped open as he saw what had happened.

Kuvira's shot had nailed the charging giant monster right between the torso and shoulder. Smoke was still streaming from the wound, and it held the arm at an angle that showed it was injured.

But the great gray beast had not broken off its charge. It had stumbled, its tail swinging out and levelling a nearby office building; but it had not fallen.

It had survived the blast. The most powerful weapon in the world, and this creature had just tanked a direct shot from it.

The giant reptilian beast had roared again, and continued to charge.

The Colossus began to power up its cannon again-

But before it could fire, the sea monster closed the distance, and slammed its bulk right into Kuvira's super-mech. The Colossus had stumbled, its arms stretching out to try and maintain its balance, and the spirit cannon's next shot fired into the sky and out of sight.

Almost rooted to the ground, Bolin watched the two titanic beings grapple with each other.

Bolin bit his lip, running his hands through his hair in distress.

"This is bad. This is really, _really_ bad," he moaned frantically.

He watched as the lizard-monster wrestled with the Colossus, trying to grab at its cannon arm and tear it off. Another deafening roar echoed through the air as the beast began to force the Colossus back, pushing it towards the harbor.

Guiltily, Bolin muttered:

"But it's kind of awesome too."

* * *

When the Colossus and Gojira had begun to brawl, Avatar Korra had immediately seized her glider-staff and flown off to try and find the others. She'd managed to reconvene with Tenzin and Bumi; the three of them had taken to the air to try and (safely) follow the fight and determine some new plan of action.

Korra dropped out of the wind and into a landing on the roof of a high pagoda close to the city's waterfront. Tenzin and Bumi swiftly joined her.

Standing carefully on the roof's tiles, they all watched as the two gigantic fighters came smashing through the city's waterfront—

-And crashing into the bay.

The Colossus stumbled and nearly, nearly fell as Gojira half-pushed, half-tackled it into the waters of Yue Bay. The impact of their crash landing sent water hurtling in all directions, nearly swamping what was left of the docks and warehouse district.

Tenzin shut his eyes for a second, before making himself open them again and continue to watch. Bumi was without a joke or clever comment of any kind; the wild man only shook his hairy head grimly as he watched the Colossus charge up its cannon and fire at Gojira again.

The shot clipped the sea monster's ribcage, and also went on to blast through an apartment building a distance behind the fight. Gojira growled furiously, staggering to the side, before recovering and continuing to attack.

Korra watched the fight with a distant, almost tired look in her blue eyes.

"What do we do?" she asked Tenzin heavily. "We need to figure something out."

"Yes," the master airbender answered in a quiet voice, "But what could we do, that would be effective against… _that_?"

He pointed towards the reptilian beast. Gojira had waded deeper into the bay, and was now swinging his tail – longer than most buildings were tall – like a flail, trying to strike the Colossus with it.

"You said that thing had a name, right?" Bumi spoke up. "The Avatar Spirit told you or something?"

"Raava told me, yeah." Korra nodded:

"She called it Gojira."

"…Did she – say anything else?" Bumi questioned hopefully. "Like, anything important about how to make him go away and stop destroying everything in his path?"

"If I knew that I would have told you!" Korra shouted in exasperation, just as the sea monster's bellowing roar resounded through the air again. "…Sorry," the Avatar sighed, "Raava didn't tell me anything else. She was scared when she first heard him; almost like he was something worse than Vaatu. I don't think she knew any way to stop him…"

Tenzin grimaced at the thought. They watched the Earth Empire's superweapon continue to battle with the mysterious sea monster.

Gojira suddenly began to swing his tail, in a wider arc than previously. He whipped it through the air past the Colossus, as he ponderously turned around in the bay's waters-

And then the sea beast slammed his tail down into the water with another almighty crash.

Gojira continued to swing his tail, but now it was under the water. The motion, driven by unbelievable muscles, stirred up a huge tidal wave. The massive surge of water slammed into the Colossus and forced it back and off its feet; with an almighty crash, the super-mech fell back against the bridge spanning across the bay, nearly breaking it.

Tenzin's eyes widened in shock, as he realized that he had just seen a gigantic sea monster use _strategy_ in its fighting style.

"Oh, spirits…" he said feebly, as Gojiira reared back its head and roared in triumph.

* * *

 _The silver giant lay there, sprawled against the bridge. Gojira watched it try to stand back up, but the Colossus' limbs seemed unresponsive, sluggish. The war machine struggled, slowly and awkwardly, to get a good footing to stand back up._

 _But it seemed doomed to fail. It was stuck there, trapped._

 _Beaten._

 _Gojira roared, loud and deep. The sound was his cry of triumph, and a final warning to the silver giant:_

 _Stay down._

 _As his roar faded away, Gojira stood still for a moment, letting the waters of the bay wash against his legs and tail. The familiar wetness of the ocean was a soothing balm after the intensity of the fight._

 _The great sea beast lowered his head briefly, and let out a deep rumbling growl – a sound that, if you were to hear it properly – almost sounded tired._

 _Holding his injured arm carefully, close to his ribcage, Gojira began to turn away from his foe and back towards the battered city; back to the place where he had sensed the Convergence._

 _Gojira had just taken a few steps out of the bay and onto the land-_

 _-There was a flash of purple light-_

 _ **PAIN.**_

 _Gojira howled in agony, and stumbled forward, trying to stay upright. Smoke was pouring from a wound on the back of his skull._

 _Shot from behind by the Colossus, the giant sea creature was hit again by another blast from the super-mech's cannon, this time in the back._

 _With a pained, winded roar, Gojira stumbled and fell. He crashed down onto the streets of Republic City, an avalanche of gray that shook the entire town with its impact._

* * *

The Colossus had finally managed to right itself, and was back on its feet, striding swiftly across the bay towards the city and its downed opponent. Inside the cockpit, operators and soldiers were working hard to assess damages from the battle, but the massive war machine was still driving forward.

Behind tight-pressed lips, Kuvira's teeth were gritted almost to the point of cracking.

This creature – this huge, ungainly freak from the depths – had nearly beaten her. The Great Uniter, the savior of the Earth Kingdom, nearly brought down by some ugly, giant sea monster!

Kuvira could not let this stand. She would not let anything get in her way.

She would not allow this beast to defeat her.

The Earth Empire would be realized… and her Colossus, the greatest wonder of the modern world, would kill this threat to its stability.

Maybe, just maybe, Kuvira would allow part of the beast's remains to be kept, to become a monument to the power and strength of the empire that she had created. The skeleton of a sea monster, or just the skull – a symbol of the triumph of the empire… That was a pleasant thought. It made her smile just a bit.

(If you could call the expression she made a smile…)

Kuvira drove the Colossus onward, charging up the spirit-cannon, ready to end the battle once and for all.

* * *

As she watched the giant sea monster fall to the ground, Korra came to a decision.

It was a risk. A huge one. If it went wrong, then Republic City was almost certainly doomed. And it would be all her fault.

The young Avatar repressed a shudder at that thought.

 _I have to try._

She snapped open her glider, and launched into the air. "Korra?" Tenzin called after her. "What are – where are you going?"

"We need to distract Kuvira!" Korra shouted down to him and Bumi, "That creature can fight her: if she kills it, we're as good as beaten!"

"WHAT?" Tenzin gaped, "You want to help that monster!?"

"We're out of options here! Come on, tell the others!" Korra turned her glider away and soared off towards the direction of the advancing Colossus.

"But!-But!—" the master airbender stammered.

Bumi put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "No time, little brother. We've got orders, right from the Avatar!"

"…And hey, you never know," Bumi added, with a bit of forced cheer, "Maybe we'll get lucky, and Kuvira and the monster will destroy each other!"

Tenzin groaned, trying not to roll his eyes. But he took to the air with his brother and they flew off to try and pass along the new plan to the others.

 _I just hope we don't regret this…_ the master airbender thought to himself.

* * *

High in the air, Korra could look down on the streets of Republic City. It was a gut-wrenching sight: buildings abandoned in the evacuation or turned into burnt-out ruins by the battle; cops trying to contain the chaos, while some people just ran wild in mindless panic or a frenzy of looting; smoke rising high into the sky…

And there was the Colossus, plowing through what remained of the waterfront district towards the downed Gojira; a living mountain that had fallen and was trying to get back on its feet.

Korra took in the sight. She closed her eyes for a second, taking several deep, calming breaths; trying to find and access the Avatar State.

 _Come on… I need to do this._ The thought was like a mantra. _I need to save the city, stop this war. Come on…_

 _ **Come on!**_

The Water-Tribe woman's eyes suddenly jerked open, glowing a burning white. Her face expressionless, Korra let go of her glider and leapt through the air to land on a rooftop in the path of the advancing Colossus.

She stamped one foot down hard and then thrust her arms up. A massive pillar of earth erupted up from the streets, brought forth through the power of the Avatar's earthbending.

Korra's expression flickered. Sweat broke out on her forehead. The white light nearly dimmed and vanished-

" _ **AAAHHHH!"**_

With a yell of determination, amplified to a near-roar by the Avatar State, Korra redoubled her efforts and focused her power again.

The pillar ignited, becoming superheated and starting to melt into lava-

And then Korra launched it with all of her might at the Colossus' faceplate.

The molten javelin soared through the air, and struck a glancing blow on the head of the titanic mecha. Bits of lava dripped down onto the windows of the Colossus, and Kuvira's superweapon halted briefly as it was confronted by this problem.

Korra's eyes faded back to their natural blue color, and she wobbled on her feet, completely exhausted by the effort of maintaining the Avatar State. But she managed a grin at the stalled Colossus.

"Metalbend… that…" she grunted, before nearly collapsing.

* * *

 _A guttural growl rumbles from Gojira's throat as he pushes himself back to his feet. One of his feet nearly slips, and he uses his tail as a brace against the ground to help maintain his balance. Then as he stands up, the growl becomes louder and deeper, full of wrath towards his enemy._

 _Before, when he had begun fighting, he'd *merely* been angry._

 _Now, however, he was_ _furious_ _._

 _As the giant beast rose back to his full height and turned around to face the silver giant, he resolved to completely_ _obliterate_ _this foe, crush it so that it could never harm him again._

 _Gojira stamped his feet and lashed his tail, opening his mouth wide:_

 _ **SSSSKKKKREEEEEEEEEOOOOOONNNNNGGGKKKKK!**_

 _With another roar, Gojira plunged back into battle._

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, I'm sure you all were hoping for a big curb-stomp in Godzilla's favor with this story, and I do get that. (I wanted to write such myself when I first had the idea. XD) But I chose to stretch the fight out more in the story, and also give the Korra characters more to do in the fight, for the sake of making an interesting tale. I'd justify Godzilla's struggle here by pointing out - this version of the character is ANCIENT. He's almost as old as the world itself here. He's not in his prime, he's just gotten out of the ocean, he hasn't been in a fight for God knows how long... but he's still Godzilla. He'll come out on top in the end... it's just how we get there that's the interesting part. XD**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: All licensed characters belong to their rightful owners. I own nothing except for my imagination.**

 **The final scene in this chapter was written with the invaluable assistance of my sister, and fellow author "KSherwood."**

* * *

"Help that monster? Are you out of your mind?!" Lin Beifong clenched her teeth, trying not to flinch as that damned roar nearly deafened her again.

"Hey, it's what Korra said!" Bumi offered with a halfhearted shrug. "I'm just passing it along."

The metalbender chief sighed harshly, heavily. She resisted the temptation to rub at her eyes, as if that would somehow dispel the exhaustion and headache that she was now feeling. "Crazy," Lin muttered to herself, "Completely insane."

Bumi nodded, a rare expression of seriousness on his face. "Yes," he said. "It's all crazy…."

"…But it might _just_ be crazy enough to work." Bumi finished.

The ground almost bucked beneath them, as a thunderous crashing filled the air around them:

Kuvira's Colossus had just been grabbed by the sea monster, and the two of them had gone tumbling into the city's industrial district. Power lines snapped and sparked wildly as the two giants continued their fight.

Despite its second wind, the sea monster was struggling to grapple with the Colossus. The super-mecha managed to break the beast's grip on its arms, and knocked it back and off its feet-

Lin's eyes widened as she saw just where the sea monster was going to hit.

"Oh, no…"

The previous rumble was like nothing compared to the earthquake that followed, as countless tons of giant monster fell down upon the Republic City Power Plant.

Bright blue electricity – the stored power of dozens of lightning-benders – fizzled and sparked unbelievably, almost like some kind of light show from the Southern Water Tribe. Smoke soared into the air too, ruining the almost mystical effect. Bumi and Lin shielded their eyes from the destruction; the Colossus stood there before the ruins of the plant, readying its cannon-

 _ **GGGRRRROOOOOOOOOONNNNNGGKKKK!**_

Another roar – pained, but somehow deeper, stronger than the previous one – split the air, as the sea monster drew itself back up. Electricity was sparking up and down its body, dancing along the great jagged spines on its back.

Enough voltage to power a dozen neighborhoods… and they'd just given the monster a quick boost.

Lin turned an icy glare to Bumi. "'Just crazy enough to work?'" she repeated his earlier words with seething contempt, "If there's still a city left when this is over…"

"Hey! How is that my fault?" the hairy airbender pleaded.

* * *

 _The power of the lightning is strong, running through Gojira's body. For a glorious few moments he feels almost young again. Healing abilities slowed by the sheer inevitable passage of time kick back into gear, and the great giant feels his injuries begin to mend themselves._

 _The ancient furnace inside of him is burning hot, stronger than it's been in years. He almost feels ready to release the energies stored within…_

 _But no, not quite yet. Gojira did not live so long to become reckless._

 _His greatest weapon would have to wait a little bit longer._

 _So once more, Gojira bares his teeth and claws, and wades back into the fight._

 _Lunging forward and down, the great sea beast clamped his jaws around the barrel of the Colossus' spirit-cannon. Bracing his feet and tail against the ground, Gojira held on to the cannon-arm and then thrust all his weight to one side, trying to pull the metal giant off its feet._

 _The simple strategy worked. With an eerie groan of metal, the silver giant fell through the air to smash down on the remains of the power plant, completely obliterating what little ruins had been left there. Gojira flexed his claws and growled in anticipation of ending the fight._

 _The ancient beast looked down on his metallic foe, sprawled almost comically in the rubble. Gojira bared his powerful teeth, the end of his tail lashing a bit._

 _This time, he'd leave nothing to chance._

 _With booming footsteps, he covered the ground towards the Colossus, until he was almost straddling it. There was still no movement from the metal enemy._

 _Gojira placed a heavy foot onto the other giant's chest, intending to crush the life out of his opponent. He began to push down, hearing metal groan and almost scream beneath the force exerted on it. The ancient beast turned his gaze towards the head of the silver giant, looking for signs of life-_

 _Suddenly, the Colossus' cannon-arm snapped up to point right at his throat._

 _Blinding violet light flashed, and Gojira reeled back in agony, jaws open in a muted howl._

 _The cannon was damaged, even sparking and leaking wisps of purple energy as it charged up again. But it was still functioning enough to fire again._

 _Another shot, and Gojira smashed backwards to crash into a still-standing building, a towering high rise that had managed to weather the destruction around it until now. The structure began to come down around the giant sea creature._

 _One more shot from the Colossus, and it did._

 _Gojira collapsed to the ground, weakened and half-buried under the rubble._

* * *

It takes time for the Colossus to right itself again. Slowly, even laboriously, the Earth Empire's super-mech managed to push itself back to its feet and stand up straight.

In the cockpit of the mechanical giant, Kuvira was expressionless. Her hair had fallen free of its usual tight braid, knocked around during the brawl with the sea monster, but the dictator paid her appearance no mind.

Her attention was totally focused, unblinking and hawklike, on one thing and one thing only: the prone figure of the monster lying in the rubble before her.

One of the officers glanced away from his duties to briefly stare at the sight. He asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Is it – dead?"

Kuvira shot the fallen giant again with the spirit-cannon.

"Now it should be," she stated icily.

There was a brief silence in the cockpit – before someone managed to cheer. Then the cockpit was full of cries of triumph, joy, and also relief.

They had _survived_. They had _won_ …

Republic City (what was left of it) was now ripe for the taking.

* * *

"Why would you want to help that monster?" Lin demanded, as the members of "Team Avatar" stood anxiously in one of the as yet-undamaged buildings.

"The monster is at least as strong, if not stronger than the Colossus," Hiroshi Sato observed.

"And the enemy of my enemy is my friend!" Bumi chimed in.

"That's not exactly right," Tenzin sighed, while his brother only shrugged apologetically.

"His name is Gojira," Korra said. "Raava knows him. She's kind of spooked by him, but she doesn't say he's bad. He's just enormously powerful."

"I can see the movers," Varrick drooled, hands splayed out in front of him. When Zhu-Li waved her hand in front of his eyes he deflated. "Sorry."

"I think Dad and Korra are right," Asami said. "We need to stop Kuvira, and without Iroh, I think this is our best shot against the Colossus. The hummingbird suits are almost working. We could use them to distract Kuvira while Gojira recovers."

"That would take too long, though," Lin said. "I don't think it could take another blast from the spirit cannon."

"It might work," Hiroshi stated. "We need to attack like a virus, and the worst viruses attack when the host is already weak. If we could help the monster, and weaken the Colossus at the same time, the tide of this battle could be changed."

"How would we do that?" Bolin asked. "Use the water-benders? Healing?"

"He does look like a water spirit," Tenzin allowed.

"No. He seemed to like the electricity in the power plant," Korra said.

"So we need to charge him like a Satomobile," Asami suggested.

"Restart his heart," Hiroshi said at the same time.

"Whatever it is," Lin held up her hand like a referee. "How would we use the electricity?"

Both Satos looked at Mako.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: All licensed characters belong to their rightful owners. I own nothing but my imagination.**

 **Strap in, folks, this is going to be a wild ride.**

* * *

 _Collapsed to the ground, wounded and bleeding and pinned by rubble… Gojira still lives._

 _But only just._

 _Titanic lungs strain to breathe clearly, struggling to force air in and out of an ancient, injured frame. Feebly, the tip of his tail twitches – still shaking the ground slightly when it flops back to the pavement._

 _Gojira opens his jaws, letting out a noiseless roar as he tries to lift his head up._

 _A bone-rattling growl forces itself out of his aching throat, and he lowers his head down to try and rest._

 _He is still alive. The furnace of power that burns inside of him is still going, still trying to mend his injuries and bring him back to speed._

 _But Gojira is old now. So very old. And so very tired._

 _Closing his eyes, the giant beast takes another shuddering breath._

 _He just… needed to rest a bit…_

* * *

The idea was insane. Completely mad. Mako didn't even think it was one of those "just crazy enough to work" ideas… this was just a bad idea.

But here he was. Standing before (well, still a safe enough distance away from) the fallen body of a gigantic sea monster who'd wrecked half the city brawling with a giant mech…

And they wanted him to try and shoot it full of lightning, see if that would do anything for it.

Mako shook his head grimly, trying to clear his thoughts and not to think about the risks facing everyone. His friends and allies, readying the hummingbird suits to try and fight the Colossus – a risk bordering on suicide, but he knew that they had to make the effort.

If Kuvira wasn't stopped, then the entire world would suffer.

Amber eyes closed for a moment. Mako took a careful, controlled breath. Then he swiftly brought up his hands, already working on separating his positive and negative chi-

Current runs through his body and down his arms and out, lightning spearing out of his outstretched hand to lance through the air and strike the target of the fallen monster.

Mako cycles his arms rapidly, firing off bolt after bolt of the deadly power that is the ultimate secret of firebending.

The power of the lightning is one of the greatest abilities known to a firebender. One mistake and the energy could reach his heart and kill him in moments.

But Mako keeps the energy under his control. The current, the flow of pure fire is swiftly and precisely directed as he channels the lightning into Gojira's body.

 _Was it working?_

The sea monster was absorbing the lightning. Mako could glimpse it trying to move, but he wasn't sure if the lightning was doing anything.

His face hardened in determination, eyes gleaming with intensity.

 _I have to do more._

Right now, Bolin and Asami and Korra were risking their lives to save the entire country.

Mako ceased firing lightning, just for a moment, so he can prepare himself for what he'd try to do next.

Clenching his jaw, working to banish any internal concerns, Mako gathers himself.

Heat hums up and down his arms. Mako braces his body and also readies his spirit, preparing to control every aspect of his spirit and self. Energy crackles and directs itself through his body as he readies all of his skill for this moment.

 _Now!_

Mako fires off another bolt of lightning – one that continues to fire, streaming continuously into the fallen sea monster.

Sustained lightningbending.

If he makes a mistake, there won't be enough of him left to be worth burying.

The heat is staggering. Voltage burns up his arms, scorching through his sleeve and beginning to burn the flesh underneath. The pain is fierce and awful… but Mako holds on. He keeps up the continuous beam of lightning until he can finally do no more.

Exhausted, almost unconscious, Mako dropped to his knees, nearly falling on his face.

" _Ah_. _Agh_ …" he gasped. "I hope – that worked…"

Resting on his knees, Mako can't even look up. He feels raw, scraped completely out. But he keeps his ears open, listening for some sign of life to confirm that this whole mad plan was worth it.

 ***RUMBLE***

The ground suddenly shakes, and Mako is knocked onto his side. Dazed, he can only lay for the next few minutes, as the earth shakes and there is noise all around him.

Forcing himself to open his eyes, the first thing Mako sees is a bluish glow.

* * *

Good news – the hummingbird suits worked. Perhaps even better than expected.

Bad news – for all of the damage that the fight with Gojira had done, Kuvira's Colossus was still operating efficiently.

Like insects swarming around a komodo-rhino, the Avatar and her allies still tried to fight on. They flew around the gigantic war machine, trying to distract it, or find an opening to exploit.

The Colossus swatted at the hummingbird-suits.

Korra directed the water of a river to freeze its cannon arm. Briefly trapped, Kuvira tried to direct her machine to break free, while one of the hummingbirds moved in.

"There!" Asami spotted an opening: a spot on the Colossus' left leg, the armor dented from one of Gojira's attacks. Hiroshi nodded as he saw it, and they piloted their craft towards the target.

If they could widen the damaged spot, cut a hole with the suit's plasma saw, then that was a possible way of getting into the mechanical monstrosity and finding a way of ending its rampage.

As they worked with their saws, trying to cut open the metal armor, Asami spoke up.

"I don't think our plan worked."

"It's a pity," Hiroshi stated grimly as he guided the saw to continue cutting. "It would have been interesting."

They were widening the hole. If they could just have a bit more time…

Asami saw the ice on the Colossus' arm begin to crack and shatter.

"We need to get out of here." She said.

"Almost there," Hiroshi answered, eyes locked on the target as he continued cutting.

In the cockpit, Kuvira gritted her teeth as she sensed the damage through her metalbending. "I need more power! They're cutting in! More power!" she barked.

The ice was shattering now.

"We need to go now!" Asami yelled at her father.

"Almost. Almost there!"

The Colossus' arm broke free of the ice. But before it could move to smash the pest trying to cut into it-

There was a great rumble, the earth shaking. The Colossus nearly stumbled, and the delay saved Asami and Hiroshi. Disengaging the saw, Hiroshi and his daughter pulled back from the giant mech's leg and managed to take to the air. Asami would have collapsed in relief if it were safe to do so.

Flying away from the Colossus, Asami glanced out the window of the hummingbird.

She saw a bright bluish glow in the distance, coming from the smoke in the former industrial district. It was accompanied by a sound: a **deep** , almost electric or fiery humming, like a massive generator charging up.

"…Dad?" she said weakly. "Is that…?"

Hiroshi frowned, as he looked over at the sight.

The light was becoming clearer now, taking on definition inside of the smoke.

It looked – almost spiky.

The bluish light moved forward, as a gargantuan form became more and more visible, coming towards the Colossus.

Inside the cockpit of her ultimate weapon, Kuvira only stared. "No." she said quietly. "No, it's not _possible_."

Gojira strode forward, his spines glowing a blinding shade of electric blue. His eyes almost seemed to glow orange as he opened his mouth-

* * *

 _Now._

 _It was time for Gojira to use his greatest weapon._

* * *

The gigantic sea monster opened his jaws, almost seeming to suck in his breath-

And a blast of blue fire roars from his jaws.

No, not fire. That is not enough to describe it.

It's more than just mere _fire_ , more than even the lightning that Gojira had soaked up.

This is a beam of pure energy, almost like the heat and power of the sun itself, concentrated and directed into a weapon of ultimate destruction.

The blue, burning energy struck the Colossus like a lance. Metal buckled and warped under the impact and the unbelievable heat. The Earth Empire's superweapon was staggered, pushed back and almost falling as it fought to remain upright.

Asami Sato stared, awe and horror in equal measure on her face.

Hiroshi's eyes gleamed with interest. _"Fascinating,"_ he whispered.

* * *

Across the battlefront, others have their own responses to the terrifying, awesome display before them.

" _Spirits,"_ Tenzin whispered, his face sheet white.

Bolin just gaped in utmost amazement. "Oh… _my…_ " he half-squeaked.

Lin Beifong said nothing. She set her jaw and just grimly watched.

"Zhu Li!" Varrick nearly tears out his hair as he tries to articulate his thoughts, pointing and gesturing like a maniac at the fire-breathing sea monster. "He – it – the – I – He's—"

"HE'S GOING TO WIN!" he finally shouted, throwing his arms around her.

"HE'S DOING IT!"

"HE'S DOING THE THING!"

* * *

Avatar Korra watched, amazed and exhausted and afraid all at once, as the sea monster unleashed his full power on the Colossus.

She saw the beam of deadly blue heat rake over the Colossus' cannon arm.

When the fiery energy swept over the spirit-cannon-

 ***KA-THOOOOOM!***

-The entire limb exploded in a fireball of shrapnel and dazzling blue-violet light.

Korra found herself grinning. A tired, exhausted one, but a triumphant one all the same.

"Yes!" she whooped, punching the air and feeling a rush of joy, almost like she was back in pro-bending, all the way back at the start of her adventures in Republic City.

As she watched the fiery energy fade out and Gojira close in on his crippled opponent, Korra knew:

Kuvira had lost.

* * *

 _The fiery blast of blue energy dies out, the glow of his spines fading away. Gojira continues to advance on his crippled metal enemy. Claws flexing, tail low and ready to swing as a weapon, Gojira is ready for anything._

 _The great, old sea beast feels strong again. The lightning that he was struck with again has fueled him, helped him push through the pain of his injuries and go back into the battle, this time ready and willing to do anything it takes to finish his opponent._

 _His greatest weapon… pure heat and fire, drawn from the ancient furnace of power that helps keep him alive and strong. Using it is always exhausting, hugely risky – draining away from his very own life force, but Gojira knew that if he did not destroy this silvery metal creature, it_ _would_ _have killed him._

 _The metal giant was carefully backing away from him. Perhaps it was considering retreat, or just trying to avoid the inevitable._

 _Millions upon millions of years ago, when he was young and strong, he might have let this enemy go free._

 _But he is old now, and not quite what he once was. And the world is so different from what he had known before._

 _Opening his jaws wide in a show of fury, Gojira takes another mighty step forward._

 _And then, he lunges._

* * *

Alarms blared and metal groaned, and in the midst of it all, Kuvira stood almost frozen, eyes unblinking and full of something like shock.

No. This wasn't happening.

This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be possible.

Kuvira's world, both figurative and literal, rocks under her feet as the giant monster rams its bulk into the Colossus. The greatest weapon in the history of mankind is rocked by the force of the charge, staggering back and nearly falling.

The metalbender leader is snapped back to alertness by the impact.

 _No._ She thought, gritting her teeth, eyes blazing, _**NO!**_

"More power!" she raises her voice in fury, shouting to her men, "Bring me everything we've got!"

She would not be defeated. Not here, not so close to the completion of her glorious vision.

Her empire would NOT be brought down by a monster!

The Colossus's systems hiss and screech under the pressure, as the spirit-vine power core is worked to the edge of its limits in the effort to stand up against the onslaught from the sea monster.

Directing the remaining arm of the super-mech via her metalbending, Kuvira drives its hand forward to stab at the monster's eyes, try and wound it, drive it back-

 _ ***KKRRRUUUNCCCHHH.***_

Metal groans and squeals like a tortured thing, as the sea monster's jaws snap shut on the fingers of the Colossus' hand. The giant reptilian beast bites down hard, digging its mighty fangs in deep, before shaking its head back and forth-

With a nerve-grating screech, the fingers of the Colossus' sole hand are ripped away and spat out like garbage.

The Earth Empire's ultimate weapon is now little more than useless.

Kuvira makes one more effort at trying to stab at the monster with the ruined fist of her Colossus. Maybe, just maybe, if she could strike it in the throat with the jagged edge of the hand…

The sea monster rears back from the attempted strike – and then its mighty claws grab onto the elbow of the mecha's arm.

And with a shrill scream of tearing metal, the Colossus loses its other arm.

Still holding the severed arm in its claws, the giant monster then swung it like a club, right at the Colossus' face.

Almost as if she were in a nightmare, Kuvira found herself rooted to the floor as she watched the incoming blow. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Her face drained of color, her eyes almost feverish, Kuvira half-whispered: _"No..."_

And then the blow hits, and the Colossus' visor shatters like cheap glass.

* * *

Korra watched as the once-mighty Colossus, now crippled and helpless, staggered back from Gojira's latest strike. With an eerie groaning, the armless mecha teetered back, trying to stay upright-

Its opponent decided to speed things along.

With a short but thunderous roar, Gojira pushed himself forward into a tackle, smashing into the Colossus and propelling them both forward and down to the ground.

The impact must have been felt all the way through the city.

What was left of it, anyway.

Korra's earlier joy at seeing the Colossus bested had now vanished, to be replaced by a growing sense of dread.

Kuvira had been defeated. Her ultimate weapon was crippled, useless. Her army had retreated at the sight of the giant monster trashing their so-called Great Uniter… it should have been a relief…

 _But what would happen next?_

Would Gojira leave them alone? Would he continue to destroy the city?

Korra remembered Raava's surge of terror at the first sound of that roar. Even the spirit of light was afraid of the sea monster. He might not be actively malicious, not like Vaatu, but something that huge and powerful… could she stop him if it came down to it?

Could anything stop him?

A booming _***crash***_ splits the air, and Korra snaps back to watchfulness.

The Colossus is pinned against the ground, held down by one of Gojira's titanic feet. Helpless, completely beaten, the superweapon of the Earth Empire lies broken.

Korra watched Gojira slowly lift his foot up. The giant beast steps off of his beaten adversary, seeming to examine it carefully.

Gojira bent down towards the Colossus.

Almost tenderly, Korra saw him grip the "head" of the mecha with his claws.

And then…

She saw his spines starting to glow.

* * *

Kuvira's eyes nearly pop as she sees the toothy maw of the sea monster open.

The air becomes hot, boiling hot, and when the blue glow begins to creep up the spines of the monster's hide, she can only feel a strange numbness creep over her. She feels oddly distant, far away from the reality of what's about to happen.

 _No._

"No. Not like this," she said, more to herself than anything, as she sees the blue heat creeping up the monster's throat, readying to fire.

 _Not like this._

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

* * *

Grimly, Korra watched as Gojira charged up to fire another blast of that blue energy.

The Avatar wished she could have brought the metalbender woman to justice instead of just seeing her die. There had been so much destruction already… it would have been nice to actually see some chance for peace instead of just more violence…

A weary look in her normally bright blue eyes, Korra resolved to watch what happened. She needed to see it all the way through.

There's a roar of noise as the beam of fiery energy shoots from Gojira's mouth…

 _Wait._

Korra's eyes widen as she sees something different than what she expected.

Instead of shooting right through the head of the Colossus, Gojira was breathing fire right below that spot… right around the top of the gigantic mecha's torso, where the cockpit was mounted. The metal armor there was thick, stronger than a battleship, but it was beginning to warp and melt before the onslaught of pure destructive energy…

But Gojira's claws were still gripping at the "head" of his target.

 _What was…?_

Korra's answer arrives with a near-scream of metal-

 _-_ _As Gojira tears the Colossus' head from its weakened body._

But he doesn't stop there. Even as he rips the head of the Colossus from its body, Gojira continues to shoot deadly burning energy, right into the mech's chest. The armor, already weakened, begins to melt and give way, exposing…

Korra gasped in sudden, awful realization.

"The spirit vines!" she yelled.

* * *

 _Gojira continues to pour his deadly fire, his energy, into the decapitated body of his enemy._

 _Even though he held the head of his foe in one hand, he would not stop. He would not stop until there was nothing left. This silvery metal giant that had nearly killed him would never rise again._

 _The ancient monster's fire-breath continues to burn through the Colossus' armor, slicing deeper into the torso of the giant—_

* * *

The world is treated to a light show the likes of which it will never see again.

Dark violet light, the fantastically destructive power of the spirit-vines first created by Vaatu and then harvested by Kuvira, surges out as the Colossus' engines are ruptured.

The blue fiery breath of Gojira continues to burn through what's left of the Colossus.

For a moment, the sea monster seems to be at the center of a colorful maelstrom; his gigantic spiky form outlined by whirling colors of purple and blue…

And then – the light begins to vanish.

Gojira begins to absorb the energy unleashed from the spirit-vines.

Dark violet spirit energy almost seems to bend and twist in the air, drawn by some invisible magnet, as it flows into the body of the sea monster. Wounds heal further and an ancient, immeasurably old system is rejuvenated by the sudden influx of energy.

Through it all, Gojira continues to blast fire into the Colossus…

Until finally, there is nothing left, and the Earth Empire's mightiest, most dangerous weapon, is completely scoured from the face of the earth.

The blue fire-breath dies down. Spines still glowing, Gojira rears up and towards the sky. For a moment, he almost seems to brandish the Colossus' head – miraculously intact through the entire surge of energy – like some trophy.

Jaws opening wide, the ancient sea monster thunders his victory to the world:

 _ **SKRRREEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGKKK!**_

The sound is another assault on Korra's ears, but strangely, this time she does not feel Raava stir in alarm at the sound. The Avatar could only wonder what that meant, as she watched Gojira stand tall and triumphant against the sky, the echoes of his mighty roar still reverberating through the air.

Almost dismissively, the ancient giant half-tossed, half-dropped the head of his enemy to the ground.

Without a backward glance, Gojira began to slowly lumber away, his path wandering back towards the harbor and the waters that he had emerged from.

After a minute of inward thought and debate, Korra opened her glider and followed after him.

She had to see this through. It had been her idea to help Gojira defeat the Colossus. Whatever destruction he caused next, that would be on her. It was her responsibility to make sure that no one else suffered any more in this whole catastrophe…


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: All licensed characters belong to their rightful owners. I own nothing but my imagination.**

* * *

The severed head of the Colossus rests, damaged and ruined, on the ground. Once the command center of the most destructive weapon in the history of war, the ultimate triumph of human science and military might… now just a hull, a giant piece of scrap metal.

Inside the cockpit, amongst the ruined machinery and controls, something begins to feebly stir.

"Uhh… _Aagh_ …" The battered, half-dead form of a woman – her once pristine armor and uniform now torn and dented; her hair loose and wild; and her face marked by a long deep cut running across her cheek – slowly drags herself back to her feet.

Awareness slowly returns to Kuvira. Far too swiftly, however, is the sensation of _pain_ : both dull and acute, the ache of heavy bruises and also the screaming pain of broken bones and painful cuts.

Some distant part of her, the still logical part, takes stock of her injuries: five broken ribs, what feels like a cracked wrist, a sprained ankle, amongst possibly others…

It was by any stretch of the imagination a miracle.

 _She'd survived._

Somehow, against all odds, Kuvira had managed to avoid dying a dozen times over: from the monster's fiery breath weapon; from the explosion of the spirit-vines; from the fall…

A miracle.

Or maybe a really cruel joke. She didn't know which one to think.

All she can think of right now, was just one thing:

 _It wasn't supposed to be like this._

Through cracked, dry lips, Kuvira mumbled it out loud. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

She was the Great Uniter. She was the leader and champion of the Earth Kingdom. She was supposed to create a new age, a new glorious empire that would have brought about an endless era of prosperity and triumph for its people…

She was supposed to be the hero.

She was supposed to have **won**.

It wasn't supposed to have ended like this. Not like this.

Numbly, like in a trance, Kuvira slowly limped forward, towards what had been the Colossus' visor – now just a shattered window space that let in the wind and the smoke and the noise from outside.

Feeble, trying to hold herself upright, Kuvira stood there, looking out at the city that was supposed to have been the crowning achievement of her campaign.

 _Republic City…_

The ground trembles faintly, almost like an earthquake but with more rhythm, more pattern to the shaking.

In the distance, Kuvira can see the cause of it…

 _The sea monster._

Eyes staring, Kuvira watched it stride for the harbor. Her face slowly drained of color as she continued to hold herself up, feverishly watching the monster just… walking away, after having dismantled her greatest weapon, and all that she'd worked so hard for.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," she repeated to herself.

Even when the monster vanished from her sight, Kuvira still stood there, looking towards where it had gone.

She stayed there until the police finally came to investigate the wreckage, and she was taken away.

* * *

Lin Beifong frowned pensively as she watched the former dictator be carefully restrained and put into an ambulance. The controlled and ruthless conqueror who'd created an empire and conquered Zaofu was gone; all that was left was a broken woman. Anyone could have seen that with just one look at Kuvira's face.

The police chief shook her head slightly.

"Killing her would have been more merciful," Lin said, so that only she could hear it.

But she wasn't going to go shedding tears over the matter. Kuvira had nearly brought about another Great War with her goal of unity turned to empire. She might have once (once, maybe) had good intentions in trying to pacify the Earth Kingdom, but at the end of it all she had turned into just another power-mad dictator, of the exact same kind as Sozin and his ilk.

 _If there's any jail in this town left standing, she's going right into it. And she WILL answer for her crimes._

And with that thought, Lin Beifong pushed the matter out of her head and returned to her job: upholding the law and protecting the people of the city:

"Get word to the refugees that the battle's over. Set up search parties to look for survivors. And someone find General Iroh! We've still got an army to round up. Move, ladies, move! I want this done today!"

* * *

On the rooftop of a still-standing building, close to the docks, Korra dropped out of the air and into a landing. The Avatar quickly straightened out of her landing stance and turned to watch.

Not that it wasn't exactly hard to notice or follow…

Heavy, lumbering footsteps rattled the asphalt as Gojira trudges back towards the waters of the bay that he had emerged from.

The sea beast's powerful tail dragged along the ground, scraping along the streets. His shoulders were slumped and his head was slightly lowered.

He came to a stop a few steps away from the waterfront. Straightening himself up slightly, Gojira turns his head to the left, then the right, his gaze lingering on the smoke and the destruction around him.

A deep, soft grunt snorts from between his jaws, sounding almost like a sigh.

Despite his unbelievable size, the power and ferocity he'd unleashed in the fight… Gojira just looked **tired** now.

Tenderly, the ancient monster lifted up an arm – his uninjured one – and scratched the end of his lowered snout. A deep, weary snort rumbled through the air. Then, lowering his arm, Gojira took a few more steps towards the water.

Stepping around a damaged but still-standing building, the giant's path took him closer to the Avatar. Korra tensed, readying herself to take to the air should he come any closer.

Gojira suddenly paused in his movement. He was almost right by her...

* * *

 _Gojira was exhausted._

 _The world had changed while he had slept… changed so very much from the days of the swamps and volcanoes and the other great reptiles. All of that was gone, like it had never existed to begin with._

 _He was the only thing left from that ancient era._

 _Now, the world seemed… smaller. Colder, dryer…_

 _Emptier._

 _He had defeated the metal giant that had challenged and attacked him… he'd fed on great stores of energy, restoring much of his strength and saving his life…_

 _But Gojira was still tired._

 _This land held no place for him._

 _He had begun to take the final few steps towards the ocean…_

 _But something made him pause, just before completing the short trek._

 _A presence… small, so very small, but yet vaguely familiar._

 _Carefully, Gojira turned his head to look down at it._

* * *

Korra tensed, shivering slightly in spite of herself.

Gojira was _right there_ , right in front of her.

She could feel his gaze focusing on her – almost like a solid weight pressing down on her shoulders.

The Avatar shook her head, before bracing her feet apart in an earthbender's stance and looking back up at the giant sea creature.

Gojira's eye was huge, like everything else about him; the pupil black, ringed by a shade of color like molten gold… or almost lava.

There was an eerie degree of awareness in his gaze as he looked down at her. More than a simple sea creature, far more…

Gojira rumbled, quiet and yet such a deep noise, too. Korra caught a whiff of both smoke and seawater on his breath. It was a very bizarre (and smelly) combination.

The ancient giant closed his eyes, letting out another deep rumbling sound. Again, it sounded like a sigh.

For a moment, his head lowers further, and all Korra can think of is suddenly how very **old** Gojira looks.

 _But then again, if Raava had known him…_

The Avatar felt another stir from the spirit of light. This one much, much fainter than the sheer panic that had overwhelmed her earlier in Asami's office.

This time, Raava seemed to be feeling… almost relieved?

Gojira opens his eyes again, and he and the Avatar lock gazes one more time.

They stare at each other, her blue eyes looking into his black and lava-colored ones, and then Korra suddenly realizes-

-She didn't have to worry about what Gojira would do next. He was simply tired now, not angry, not a menace now. He just wanted to return to where he had come from, and rest.

She, nor anyone else, would be seeing him again for a very, very long time.

Gojira straightens up, looking around at the world around him once more. Then, with a thunderous snort, he strides past the Avatar and is on his way towards the water.

With one step, then another, he plods into the bay, and then carefully lowers himself forward into a strangely graceful dive that sends him plunging into the waters.

Korra watched him go, before she dove off of the roof and airbent herself into a landing on the ground.

"Korra?"

She turned – it was Tenzin. Asami, Bolin and Mako were with him.

"Are you okay?" Asami asked her, "Is – is Gojira…?"

"Is he going away?" Bolin nervously asks at the same time as Mako sharply says "Is he going to be a threat?"

The two brothers exchange glances, before looking back to the Avatar.

"It's okay, everyone…" Korra said.

She smiled tiredly, reassuringly.

"We won't be seeing Gojira for a long, long time."

Tenzin nearly collapsed in relief. "Oh thank the spirits," he murmured.

"Oh…" Bolin said quietly. He looked oddly torn, which Mako noticed.

"He destroyed half the city, Bolin." The firebender said sternly.

"Yeah… but he stopped Kuvira." The earthbender offered as a defense for the giant sea creature.

"He still destroyed half the city," Mako asserted.

"But he probably saved the other half!"

Asami and Korra couldn't help but laugh.

The Avatar and her friend then turned away from the two brothers, to look out at the harbor, towards the vanishing sight of the swimming Gojira. His spines were still visible, poking up out of the water as he swam for the open ocean.

* * *

 _Gojira lifted his head from the water to take one last taste of the air around him. He filled his lungs one more time, and then opened his jaws wide to give one final roar, a farewell to this strange different world he had woken up in…_

 _ **SSSSKKKKREEEEEEEEEOOOOOONNNNNGGGKKKKK!**_

 _And then, he dove under the water, vanishing from view._

 _Pushing himself further down into the sea, Gojira begins his long, careful descent._

 _Back, back to the deepest depths of the ocean…_

 _And back to his rest._


End file.
